Truly, madly, deeply
by searchforpurity
Summary: Lex gives Chloe a ride home from the Talon - then he keeps finds ways into her mind.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Truly, madly, deeply  
  
  
Rating: PG  
  
  
Author: adreamawayfromsomewhere  
  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine. No money for me.   
  
  
Note: My first ever songfic, so please be gentle!  
  
  
  
Chloe sat watching the wall. She was waiting for Lana to finish her shift at the talon, and this was the fourth time this week that Lana had finished work late.  
  
She stopped staring at the wall and started staring at a round, silver tin full of plastic spoons and tall, thin paper packets of sugar. She stared at it for a bit, but then rested her head in the palm of her hand and began to nod off, into a state of - almost - sleep.  
  
"Could I buy you a coffee?"  
  
Chloe jumped out of her state of dopiness, making numerous vowel sounds and trying to focus her eyes to see who it was talking to her.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes." Lex muttered to himself, as Chloe's eyes came to focus on him. "How do you like your -"  
  
"Latte" Chloe muttered and then silently yawned.  
  
"Can I get a latte to go."  
  
"I must have dozed off," she said, sleepily. Her eyes searched the walls for a clock. "What's the time…?"  
  
Lex watched Chloe intensely as he sat and sipped his coffee. Their paths had crossed many times, his and Chloe's, and yet they still didn't know each other very well, or at east, not as much as either of them would like.   
  
Lex hardly noticed Lana arrive with Chloe's latte until she said, "I probably won't get off work for another hour or so,"  
  
Chloe nodded.  
  
"I could give you a lift if you like," Lex suggested kindly, passing Chloe her disposable cup of coffee.   
  
"That'd be great," Lana said, smiling broadly at Lex and taking off back into the kitchen. "I'll see ya later Chloe!"  
  
"I don't know about that." Chloe said, and pulled a paper packet of sugar and a plastic spoon from the tin she was earlier staring at. "You see, my dad has this rule; never accept lifts from hillbillies, and one who smells like vomit of alcohol or billionaire businessmen."   
  
"I thought you, of all people, Miss Sullivan, would know that rules are meant to be broken."  
  
_Was he flirting with me?_ Chloe thought, as she ripped the top of the paper packet and poured the sugar into her coffee. _He couldn't be. No-one flirts with me. Especially not Lex Luthor. Am I saying this out loud?!_  
  
Lex sat, reading her facial expressions, hoping silently she wouldn't notice him staring. He took another sip of his coffee, his face remaining emotionless.  
  
Chloe sighed.  
  
"Long day?" Lex asked, and then tried to focus his attention on the wall opposite him.   
  
"Now that you mention it," Chloe said, looking up at the clock. Eleven thirty. "Yeah, it has been a pretty long day."  
  
"Would you like me to take you home now?" Lex asked. Chloe stood, coffee in hand and Lex lead her out of the Talon, his hand on the small of her back. The cement footpath was wet from the rain earlier that day, and they both looked up to the sky as they walked outside.   
  
"Tut tut, it looks like rain," Chloe said, with a smile. Lex moved towards his car, and opened the passenger side door for Chloe who smiled and sat down into the seat. Lex couldn't help but smile. Chloe couldn't help but smile. The both felt like grinning fools, but maybe that's all they were. Chloe stared at the upholstery of the car, the Talon and then at Lex, who had been watching her the entire time.  
  
Lex turned the key in the ignition and the car started, and with it, so did the radio.   
  
_I'll be your dream,   
I'll be your wish,   
I'll be your fantasy,   
I'll be your hope,  
I'll be your love,  
Be everything that you need. _  
  
"What is it with love songs?" Lex smiled, not waiting for an answer, but not touching the dial either. Chloe smiled, and decided not to admit that this was one of her favourite songs in Elementary school.   
  
_I'll love you more   
with every breath   
Truly, madly, deeply do   
I will be strong I will be   
faithful   
'cause I'm counting on   
A new beginning   
A reason for living   
  
A deeper meaning, yeah   
_  
Lex looked over his shoulder, accidentally brushing Chloe's shoulder with his hand and reversed the car out of the parking spot and onto the main road. The music started to dim out as the humid air pushed past her ears, Lex obviously ignoring anything he was taught about speeding when learning to drive.   
  
_I want to stand with you   
on a mountain   
I want to bathe with you in the sea   
I want to lay like this forever   
Until the sky falls down on me   
  
And when the stars are   
shining   
brightly in the velvet sky,   
I'll make a wish send it to heaven   
  
Then make you want to cry   
The tears of joy for all the   
pleasure in   
the certainty   
That we're surrounded by the   
comfort and protection of   
  
  
The highest powers   
In lonely hours   
The tears devour you   
  
I want to stand with you   
on a mountain   
I want to bath with you in the sea   
I want to lay like this forever   
Until the sky falls down on me   
  
Oh can you see it baby?   
You don't have to   
close your eyes   
'Cause it's standing right here   
before you   
All that   
you need with surely come   
  
I'll be your dream I'll be your wish   
I'll be your fantasy   
I'll be your hope I'll be your love   
Be everything that   
you need   
I'll love you more with every breath   
Truly, madly, deeply do _  
  
Before too long the trip was over, and the silver convertible was parked in front of Chloe's house.  
  
"You made it in less than five." She said. "Congratulations, that's faster than Lana when she's late for a date with Clark. You sure know how to put the pedal to the metal,"  
  
Lex smirked and shrugged, opened the car door for Chloe, who stepped out as gracefully as she could manage, trying to miss the puddle that was right in front of where she was going to stand.   
  
"I do look forward to our next meeting, Miss Sullivan," Lex said, leading her up the steps to her door.   
  
"Yeah. Me too." Chloe said, and then hugged Lex, and softly kissing him on the cheek. Lex awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and smiled. "Mr Luthor," she added, as she pulled away. "Thank you."  
  
"Anytime."  



	2. Chapter 2

Author: Adreamawayfromsomewhere  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine, and I'm not making any money, so don't sue me!  
  
Author's note: This story started out as a single chapter songfic, but I thought of this pretty cool (or at least I think it's pretty cool!) storyline to go with it. Hope you like!  
  
R+R: Yes please!!  
  
Chloe flicked the switch at the wall and looked up at the string of fairy lights hanging from the end of her curtain to the silver metal head of her clothes cupboard and admired her handy work. She walked past her desk, where her notebooks and text books were sprawled everywhere and turned off the main light of her bedroom. The small lights danced on the different belonging's in her room, bouncing and glittering off her stereo, which was playing the perfect song for that moment, off her half finished homework, off the dresses Lana had flung all over Chloe's bed.  
  
She had finally decided on the red one, a gorgeous, stunning red holter dress with a red satin under layer and a layer of soft lace, and beading around the bottom that was frilled and cut on an angle. Chloe had been keeping at the back of her closet, waiting for the right occasion to wear it. You see, she had bought it not completely sure she would ever wear it, it wasn't her 'style'. It was to sexy, to revealing,-she had always felt like she was not pretty enough to wear it.  
  
A gust of wind blew through her window, blowing around her curtains and swinging her string of fairy lights around. Some pages of her English assignment flew off her desk, and she could see the headlights of a car pulling in outside her house as she picked up the pages and raindrops started pouring from the skies. It had been two weeks ago that local bald billionaire Lex Luthor had quite kindly given her a lift home from the Talon, and, although she didn't want to admit it, he had been playing on her thoughts ever since.  
  
She heard the front door swing open, and slam shut, then open and close once more, and as Chloe wandered up the hall to investigate, she heard heavy heeled shoes stamping up the staircase and quiet whimpering. Lana, her eyes filled with tears, ran past her and into her room, threw herself on the clothing covered bed, without even acknowledging the new fairy lights, Chloe noticed.  
  
"Its not fair," Lana sobbed into Chloe's pillow. Chloe walked over and sat on the bed beside the crying Lana, who had been stood up by Clark once before. Silently Lex stood leaning on the door frame, watching the two school girls.  
  
"Maybe he was." Chloe rethought her words. "Maybe something came up."  
  
"He said he'd be there, Chloe." Lana whimpered. Noticing Lex standing in the doorway, Lana whipped her eyes on a tissue from the tissue box beside Chloe's bed and stood, walked towards him and said, "What, is this entertaining to you?"  
  
Chloe jumped from her seat to follow Lana, "Ill leave if that's what you want. I just wanted to see that you're ok."  
  
"Do I look o-" Lana started, but was interrupted by Chloe.  
  
"Lana," she said, stepping between them. Her stomach went tight when she realized her hand was resting on Lex's chest. She turned to face him, and suggested, "Maybe you could go to the kitchen and make some hot chocolate."  
  
Lex nodded, knowing this wasn't his place he made his way down the hall towards the kitchen, Chloe hugged Lana, who's violent sobs had started again. "The cocoa's in the pantry, and the milk's in the fridge." She yelled, over Lana's shoulder.  
  
"He said he wouldn't miss it for the world," she paused for a moment and then broke into another set of dramatic sobs.  
  
It was times like these that Chloe was glad she wasn't going out with Clark. These times didn't come around very often, and although she knew it was selfish, she couldn't help but feel glad it was Lana's heart breaking instead of her's every time Clark "forgot" or when "something came up" during a date. If she was going out with Clark. Well, she didn't want her mind to linger on it. She'd wasted too much time on the "What if"s and "if only"s of her relationship with Clark, and she didn't want to waste a minute more. And even so, if she was going out with Clark she couldn't let her every second thought be on the 21-year-old, bald billionaire currently making hot chocolate in her kitchen. Mmm.She cherished the thought.  
  
"Did he call?" Lana sobbed loudly. "I'll take that as a no."  
  
Lana sniffled and wiped her eyes with the now soaked tissue, as Lex entered with two mugs of steaming hot chocolate, and a mug of coffee for himself on a plastic brown platter he found next to the stove. Chloe took the two cups of hot chocolate and gave Lana the mug with the teddy bear that says "I used to sleep with a teddy bear. Now I sleep with a grizzly" that she won in a lucky dip and kept the "forty's not old. if you're a tree" mug that she gave her dad on his fortieth birthday for herself.  
  
"Look Lana," Chloe said, as Lana sipped at her hot chocolate. "You'll feel better after you have a shower."  
  
"Good idea," she sniffled, as the tears started drying on her cheeks.  
  
"We'll go downstairs." Chloe said, rising from her bed and following Lex out of her room.  
  
"Has it become a habit of yours; saving damsels in distress, Mr. Luther?" Chloe asked as they walked down the dimly lit hallway towards the stair case. He grinned.  
  
"If your lucky, Miss Sullivan, it might've." He raddled his cup of coffee in his hands, while walking down the steps into the kitchen the rain chiming on the roof.  
  
"Thanks" she said, and paused. "If you hadn't given her a lift she probably would've walked home in the rain."  
  
"Don't worry about it." Lex replied, and sat down at the kitchen table opposite the blond teenager he'd grown to like. They heard the shower turn on upstairs, and the red phone hanging on the wall start to ring."  
  
Chloe muttered "excuse me" and went to pick up the phone "Hello? Yes, this is she." She said the receiver to her ear. "Mmhmmm." Lex studied her silently. His eyes ran over her from top to bottom and back again. "Yeah. Ill try too. Thanks for calling, yeah bye."  
  
"Yes" she muttered under her breath, and went to sit back down at the table. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and smiled. They heard the shower turn of with a squeak upstairs.  
  
"That Clark Kent." Lex started. "is quite the heart breaker, I hear." "Mmm. I think he needs a good talking too." Chloe joked.  
  
"I wonder were he was when his mother was teaching him the finer points of dating."  
  
"Probably wasn't listening." Lex smiled over his coffee cup. "I think he might've missed the bit about having to actually turn up."  
  
Chloe grinned. Lex finished his cup of coffee and stood, and Chloe also stood, she didn't exactly know why.  
  
"Well, I'd better be getting back."  
  
"Oh, oh yeah," Chloe mumbled, and Lex smiled. He handed her the mug which once held his coffee and she followed him out to the doorway, where he threw his coat on and opened the door.  
  
He smiled, and then called back to her on the way to his car, the rain splattering on his long black jacket. "I do look forward to our next meeting, Miss Sullivan."  
  
"Me too," she whispered, watching the rain patter down on the cement, Lex's silver convertible speed down the road, disappearing out of site. 


	3. Chapter 3

"How are you doin', Chloe?" tall, dark and handsome Clark Kent asked, entering the office of the Torch. Chloe stood in front of her open laptop, mouse in one hand and egg and lettuce sandwich in the other.  
  
"Great," she said, with a high level of sarcasm. "Just great Clark. Do you know how much sleep you get when your roommate's depressed over her boyfriend not turning up to their date all weekend?"  
  
"I'm guessing very little," Clark replied in an innocent tone of voice, puppy-dog eyes on his face, and a clear hint of concern.  
  
"You've guessed correctly." Chloe's voice softened as she asked, and slammed her laptop shut. "Have you spoken to her since?"  
  
"I've kinda been avoiding her," Clark admitted. "I never thought it'd be so hard, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess." Chloe took a bite out of her sandwich and sat in the cushioned chair, bathing in the rays of the sun from the nearby window. "Avoiding her won't help, though."  
  
"I know," he sighed and sat in the chair opposite her's. "But I don't know what I'll say."  
  
"How about 'sorry'?" Chloe suggested, and took another bite from her sandwich.  
  
"Well, one word isn't exactly a novel, is it?" The outside corridor burst with the hurry and bustle of the end of lunch as the students started making their way to class. "I'll see you later Chloe."  
  
Chloe sat back in her chair. It wasn't very often that she would skip school. In fact, the only other time she could remember skipping school was in fourth grade when some of the less friendly girls in the class were teasing her about not being able to compete in the Mother-Daughter swimming relay.  
  
She was tired. She couldn't focus, let alone concentrate in Modern history, one of her favourite subjects, yet still a challenge to stay awake through, no matter how much you love it. The sun glittered on the rays of dust particles making them look like tiny golden sparks floating through the air. Her eyelids became droopy, and all her thoughts and all the sounds around her melded into black.  
  
When she awoke the sun had set and the school seemed pretty much empty, except for Mr. Martins, who was busy marking maths papers and singing along to some bad eighties tune playing on the stereo in his room up the hall.  
  
She glanced at the clock on the wall. 6:45.  
  
She jumped to her feet and grabbed her coat from the wall and made her way sneakily out of the building. This wasn't the first time she had been at school late, - but it was the first time she'd been at school and no-one was really sure where she was. She would have to walk to the Talon and once again take a ride home with Lana.  
  
Once outside, a chilly breeze gripped at her skin so she pulled on the knee- length red jacket and started walking in the general direction of the Talon.  
  
She arrived at the Talon in about twenty minutes, her fingers and bare shins cold, not that she really cared or noticed. At times on her walk she realized she was humming the rather annoying song from the eighties that was playing in Mr. Martin's office, or wondering what Clark was doing, or what Pete or Lana or Lex... What they were doing. She let her mind pleasantly drift.  
  
After ordering, paying for and receiving a large take-away cup of hot chocolate, her thoughts became a debate on the pro's and con's of a relationship with Lex Luthor.  
  
"Well," the pro's began. "You obviously like him. Trust me - he's been on your mind a lot lately-"  
  
"But he's a Luthor!" The con's butted in, rather rudely. Chloe considered this point for a moment. If she was thinking straight, at this point Chloe would be hoping no-one was watching her or reading her facial expressions, as they were quite uncontrollable when being an audience of one to a debate such as this one.  
  
"He's got enough money to pay for a good college education, that cute little puppy dog you always wanted... Plus half of Switzerland."  
  
The cons tried hard to think of a point or rebuttal, but knew that was hard to beat. "He employs your day, you know. That could get weird. Plus..." They paused to think. "You know all about his reputation as a womanizer, Miss Sullivan," they said, in a tone commonly used by parents wanting their children to tidy their rooms. "He'll break your heart a million times and he won't feel a thing!"  
  
Chloe knew that when her brain started to debate against itself that she definitely needed some sleep. Luckily enough tomorrow she could sleep in. Saturdays are good.  
  
"Mind if I sit here?" Chloe looked up from her giant paper cup of hot chocolate milk. The man her mind had just been debating over pulled out a chair from under the table she was drinking her chocolate milk at and sat down.  
  
"No, not at all," she replied, even though he was already sitting.  
  
"I was wondering, Miss Sullivan, if you knew what the Marcus Knight Journalism residency week is," Lex sipped at his coffee as Chloe's eyes jumped out of their earlier doziness and into a state of complete and utter alertness and focus.  
  
"Only the best and most highly esteemed journalism camp for high school students in the entire United states of America." Her voice was charged with excitement, but lost it's enthusiasm and drooped with sadness as she said, "But there are only 120 places open each year and it's way hard to get into - thousands send in every year, plus it costs heaps."  
  
"What if I told you," Lex said, pulling a white envelope from the inside pocket of his black jacket and placing it on the table. "That there was one open place - just for you."  
  
She stared at the envelope.  
  
"I would say..." She paused. "That it's way too good to be true."  
  
Lex smiled. He admired her caution towards the situation.  
  
"How did you get it?" Chloe asked in a whisper.  
  
"Pulled a few strings." Understatement of the century. If the deal that got him that envelope hadn't pulled through he would probably be on his way to metropolis to break some poor teenage boy's legs that very minute.  
  
It wasn't that he liked the young blonde. No, not at all. He truly thought she was an amazingly talented journalist, and that she deserved a place at this camp. That was the only reason he got her a place at the camp, and was willing to pay every cent needed to pay to fill that place.  
  
"I don't have the money," Chloe muttered, embarrassed. Lex smiled.  
  
"I don't think that's a problem."  
  
"You're kidding me," Chloe said, realizing Lex was willing to pay for the camp.  
  
"The seeds of today are the flowers of tomorrow," Lex quoted. His watch beeped and her looked at it and smiled.  
  
"I've got to go. I do look forward to our next meeting, Miss Sulivan." 


	4. Chapter 4

AN - Sorry I haven't updated for a while!! But here's the next chapter. Please R&R, I don't know whether I like this chapter much. *begs for some constructive criticism* Thank you for all your reviews!!  
  
***  
  
Today was the day. Tomorrow Chloe would be at the Marcus Knight journalism residency week - going to this camp was beyond her wildest dreams, and tomorrow, she would be there. She was excited... Beyond excited. No words could describe the level of excitement she was feeling.  
  
"I thought you would've packed yesterday," the tall, Clark Kent said, walking into her bedroom.  
  
"I thought I would've too," Chloe smiled, folding a pair of jeans and putting them neatly into her suitcase.  
  
"Are you sure you want to go?" Clark asked, fidgeting with a piece of string in his hands. He struggled to avoid eye contact with her.  
  
"Sure?!?" she said unbelievingly. "Am I sure I want to go? Sure as the birds and the bees buzzing in the trees I want to go."  
  
The room fell momentarily silent.  
  
"How do you know you can trust him Chloe?" Clark asked. Chloe didn't know why he was being so suspicious of Lex; they'd always seemed like good friends.  
  
"I don't," she said, plainly, packing a pile of pink, blue, red and black- and-white-striped shirts into her almost-packed suitcase.  
  
"Then why? Why are you trusting him?" Clark's voice was angry. What did Lex ever do to him? Why was he being so uptight?  
  
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Chloe asked, shoving a pair of sneakers into her suitcase and walking to the other side of her bedroom so Clark couldn't look into her eyes with that, almost frightening look in his eyes. "You didn't have any problems with me going yesterday,"  
  
"That was yesterday," he said. "I just don't want to see you getting hurt."  
  
"I can look after myself, Clark. I'm not a little girl. What Lex did for me was really kind - I'm not going to turn down his offer... This is a once in a lifetime experience."  
  
"I just..." he said, staring at his shoes. Clark Kent being shy. Chloe enjoyed, for a moment, his discomfort. "I just... Look, I know you can look after yourself and all of that, but I really don't want to... You just, Chloe, I really do care for you. I never want to see you in pain."  
  
"I never want to see me in pain either! I mean, maybe you care too much, Clark. I mean - You've got other things, other people to worry about." Chloe thought about the time she had spent with Clark over the past week. It'd definitely been more than usual, probably due to Clark and Lana's ongoing rift after he didn't turn up to their date. Clark refused to talk about it; Lana refused to hear about it. She had hardly spoken to Lana since she ran into Clark at the Torch office, until she accused her of taking Clark's side. Chloe objected, telling her she wasn't taking anyone's side, and that she just wanted them to forgive and forget. Tears then started falling from Lana's eyes. For a moment she began to hate Clark, but those feelings soon washed away after spending more time with him, that afternoon.  
  
"All this time we've been spending together, Chloe," he said, softly, moving closer to her. "I just - I don't know how I feel about Lana anymore."  
  
"Sure you do," She said, stepping backwards. "You love her, you've always loved her,"  
  
"But I don't," he said, and held her arms, pulling her softly towards him. Their lips met, softly at first, but the kiss grew more passionate as they went on. Finally Chloe pulled away. "I really -"  
  
"I don't want to hear it Clark." She said, coldly. She never thought being kissed by Clark Kent would leave her with that reaction. "I don't want to be your back-up girl whenever things go wrong with Lana. You don't want to see me hurt? Then just leave me alone."  
  
Chloe heard a dull beating noise, and then realized it must be Lex knocking on her front door. She put her head out her open window and called for him to let himself in, and that she was in her room packing.  
  
"I'm going Clark. I'm not going to let your feelings stop me from having the best week of my life."  
  
Lex entered the room smiling. Well, almost smiling. Smiling as much as a Luthor can anyway. "Packed?"  
  
"Almost!" Chloe grinned. She decided not to think of what had just happened, but to focus on what the next week was going to bring her. She'd just figured out her feelings. Just realized she didn't like Clark in that way, that she really just wanted to be friends. Just started to think her emotions were focused. Focused on Lex, no doubt, but still focused. How was she going to tell Lana? Was she going to tell Lana? She had too... But it could only make matters worse...  
  
She thought she was over Clark, but she wasn't. That kiss turned her heart upside down, shook it around, stuck it in a blender at high speed and served it with fries.  
  
She finished stuffing her miscellaneous clothing items into her suitcase. "I'll just go put this in your car, ok?"  
  
Lex nodded. "I'll be down there in a second; I just want a word with Clark."  
  
Chloe left the room, pulling her heavy suitcase behind her.  
  
"Watch yourself, Clark..." Lex's voice was deep and impersonal. "I'm not the kind of man you'd want to be on the wrong side of, Clark. You of all people should know that."  
  
He left Clark standing alone in Chloe's room, and went down to his car, where Chloe was waiting for him. 


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys, Thank you all so much for reviewing!!! I hope you all continue to read, because I have quite a few twists and turns in the plot to come. Thank y'all. Please continue to review... Here's chapter five.  
  
***  
  
"What did Clark have to say?" Lex asked, after half an hour on the road. His hand left the steering wheel to rest in on Chloe's thigh, but she hardly realized - she was so deep in thought.  
  
She didn't want to think about it, let alone discuss it. "A great load of nothing."  
  
"Trust," Lex muttered. "You're okay with it?"  
  
"Why wouldn't I be?" Chloe snapped. Geez that kiss put her in a bad mood.  
  
"You just seem a little... irritable. He didn't try anything, did he?" Chloe squirmed in her seat, and tried to focus on the passing trees and cars. "Chloe? Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She lied. Talk about an Academy award winning performance - but Lex wasn't buying it. She looked into his eyes... "He kissed me. Clark kissed me."  
  
"And how do you feel about that?" Lex asked, in a surprisingly counselor- like way.  
  
"I don't know yet." Honest. Truthful. Lex smiled. He took his hand off her leg and back onto the wheel, as Lex pushed his foot down onto the accelerator.  
  
Chloe liked the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair, the buzz she got from the speed they were driving at. Lex leant forwards and turned the volume up on the CD player to the point where Chloe could feel the thick bass vibrating below her feet.  
  
"If you need to talk about it," He almost-yelled, "You can tell me."  
  
"I know!" she yelled back. If she was going to forget about Clark, now would be the best time. She grinned and put her arms in the air, enjoying the experience. She decided she didn't care about how she acted around Lex - she was just going to be herself, no masks, no layers, just herself. She had a week until she was going to see either Clark or Lana - she wasn't going to lose sleep over something as silly as a kiss that didn't mean anything. It was a nothing kiss, wasn't it?  
  
At this point she had almost convinced herself the kiss she shared with Clark was meaningless. It sure had made her think, and re-think her feelings for Clark. What was it about that Farm-boy that made her like him so much? Sure, he'd saved her life a couple times... But, Lex would too, if the situation arose. Clark... Superhumanly good-looking, even to the point where he would have a career in male-modeling; incredibly sensitive. To any teenage girl other than her, he would seem to be the perfect guy. Except her.  
  
Not to mention the Lana factor. Talk about the perfect couple. If they weren't born for each other, then pigs will fly. They looked the part, and, (when they weren't fighting,) acted the part too. Whether it was just an act, Chloe didn't know, but what she did know was that Clark had liked Lana for all his life, and probably in a couple of his past lives too. They say everyone has an obsession, a consuming passion - Lana had to be Clark's.  
  
Chloe could see a fuel station up ahead. She leaned towards Lex, "Could we stop up here for a little, please?"  
  
He nodded, and he turned into the petrol station. As he walked around the car he opened Chloe's door for her, "Coming in?"  
  
"Certainly."  
  
The two of them entered the Petrol station. An elderly woman stood behind the counter, watching them through her metre thick glasses that were big enough to have their own president. "What would you like to order this morning?"  
  
"Hmm..." Lex said, contemplating the menu, which was written on a blackboard hanging above the drink machine, coffee machine and the hotdog holder. "I don't know, the petrol station down the road wasn't half as expensive as here."  
  
The woman, who was wearing a red, navy and white "Hello, my name is Beth, how may I help you?" badge, raised an eyebrow. "I think you'll find that we have the best prices in town."  
  
"Did you hear that, Chloe?"  
  
"Did I hear what, Lex?" she asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.  
  
"This lady here, Beth, says that this is the cheapest petrol station in town," Lex said to Chloe, who was trying almost-unsuccessfully to hold back her laughter.  
  
"No way. Maybe we should go back to that other, less expensive place up the road." They turned to leave, but Beth stopped them.  
  
"Wait!" she yelled. "I'll... I'll give you a discount!"  
  
"Half price." Lex bargained.  
  
"No way, ten percent."  
  
"Thirty."  
  
"Twenty." Lex smiled. He loved having people just where he wanted them.  
  
"With that in mind, I'll take a small coke. What do you want, Chloe?"  
  
"Strawberry milkshake," she smiled.  
  
"Got that?" he asked the woman, who flared her nostrils and threw a death stare at him. He handed her the correct change and she put it into the cash register, muttered something about the lack of respect for the elderly these days and turned to the milkshake machine where she started making Chloe's Strawberry milkshake.  
  
Chloe and Lex went to sit down at a small round table, in the farthest corner from the counter.  
  
"You have an incredibly big fortune, Mr. Luthor, and yet you still manage to cheat an old lady out of - how much was it, half a dollar? - of her well earned money."  
  
"Your point being?" Lex asked, sarcastically.  
  
"Oh, you're such a scab!"  
  
The old lady arrived with Lex's coke in a cardboard cup, and Chloe's milkshake in a tall milkshake glass. She smiled at Lex, who passed her, what looked to be a wad of fifty dollar notes. Her eyes widened, which made her look like a frog of some sort due to the thickness of her glasses. She grinned, curtsied, and walked towards the counter as fast as her old legs would take her.  
  
Chloe stared disbelievingly at him. He was such a mystery - whenever she thought she had him figured out he would do something that surprised her, and forced her to reevaluate what she though of him. She liked being around Lex - he was like no-one she knew.  
  
"What did you have to say to Clark?" she asked, remembering what had happened earlier.  
  
"Just had to tell him to keep the town in order while I was away." He lied.  
  
"Are you and him fighting?" Chloe asked, realizing the bad grammar after she'd said it. Lex raised an eyebrow as if to say 'what gives you that idea?'. "He said some stuff, he asked me how I knew I could trust you and stuff, and I don't know whether he was just trying to be some kind of superhero or something... He's been acting strangely ever since him and Lana stopped talking."  
  
"Trust," Lex said. "Give it a week and he'll be back to normal. If I was a gambling man," he paused, "I'd bet on it."  
  
Chloe took comfort in his certainty. Lex sipped at his coke. "I sure hope Beth didn't spit in that."  
  
He smiled, his mind thinking things he would never say out aloud, especially not in front of Chloe. He raised his eyebrows comically and Chloe laughed.  
  
After they finished their beverages and a quick trip to the bathrooms, Chloe and Lex were back on the road. 


End file.
